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“I’m too busy”, “I don’t have the time”, “I’ve got to get this done”, “I wish I could just slow down and relax, but I can’t”, “I don’t know whether I’m coming or going”, “I’m up to my eyeballs in work/study/family commitments”.

These are all things I hear uttered frequently, from people I know well, from snippets of conversation snatched from strangers, and from my own lips more often than I’d like. It’s a shame that these words are more common in our daily dialogues than, for example, “I feel wonderfully calm,” or “I’m content with what I’m doing right now,” or “I’m happy I took the time to relax, I feel so much better”. However, the point of this post is to draw our attention to common habits which may have a negative impact on our sense of wellbeing, and turn that attention into something positive.

A basic principle of mindfulness meditation is: Pay Attention. By pausing and resting our attention on what is happening right now, we can start to cultivate a stronger sense of how we think and act throughout the day, how thoughts and actions impact our behaviour, and make small but potent changes where needed. In a nutshell, we can cultivate a little bit of our very own calm amidst the constant buzz of life.

Here is a simple practice for you to try absolutely anywhere…

– at home, at work, in a shop, at a bus stop, in your car (perhaps not while driving!). It could take you 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 50 minutes. It’s up to you. No excuses – do it right now, after you’re read the following suggestions:

Identify how you feel physically.

Adopt a comfortable position wherever you are – sitting, standing or lying down. Closing your eyes helps to limit visual distractions. Become aware of your posture and how you are holding yourself. Identify how you feel physically. Use these questions as prompts:

What parts of your body are in contact with the ground/chair/bed?

Where do you feel you are, physically, in relation to the space around you?

Do you feel open or closed in?

Do you feel light or heavy?

Do you feel connected or disconnected?

Is there any tension anywhere in your body? Where?

Do you feel physically good or not.

Don’t try to analyse the answers to these questions, just state the answers simply in your mind until you feel more physically aware of you body, then move on to the next step.

Bring to mind the names of emotions that you can identify with in this moment.

Again, don’t get too wrapped up in your emotions; observe them as if you were an outsider, noting down any feelings you are experiencing at this moment, just as a record.

Breathe.

This is all you need to do now. Give your full attention to the process of breathing in and breathing out. Inhale, exhale, repeat. Feel the air travel in through your nose, down your windpipe, to the base of your belly and back again.

If you find your mind wandering off in all directions (as it inevitably does), don’t worry about it. As the old saying goes, Mind is like Monkey. It’s nature is to jump all over the place. It needs constant training and a single focus to be tamed. This will take time.

For now, bring it back to the task at hand – the breath – by counting. You can even form the breath and the counting into a silent statement if it helps: “I’m breathing in 1, I’m breathing out 1, I’m breathing in 2, I’m breathing out 2…” Counting up, there is no limit. Continue until a sense of calm starts to develop and grow from within you.

By incorporating this practice into your day, you are giving yourself the time you need to reconnect with who you are and what is going on at any given moment. By cultivating an awareness of the present moment, you are creating space within your life for the only thing we really have: now.

This had to be my first recipe post. It’s just an unrivalled winner when it comes to a super boost of nutrients, along with hydration, flavour and colour.

If green is not your thing, shut your eyes for a moment and imagine a shot of pure vitamins and minerals entering your body, activating your digestion, cleansing your blood, repairing your cells, improving your skin, boosting your energy, building your immune defence and making you shine from inside out. Now open them and get over your green phobia. This juice tastes great, and can be adapted to include a range of colourful vegetables once you are feeling adventurous.

I use a cold-press, masticating juicer as my preferred method of extracting the juice (let’s save the what’s and why’s for another post), but any juicer that separates the juice from the pulp is fine. I’ve also given options for blending if you don’t own a juicer – just bear in mind how powerful your blender is, and whether it’s up to the job of extracting the juice out of tougher vegetables.

The following makes at least a pint of juice (this can be diluted with water or ice to make it go further):

Essential ingredients (for juicing):

3-4 generous handfulsof kale or spinach

3 apples / 250ml cold-pressed apple juice

½ small cucumber

2 sticks of celery

A few sprigs of parsley

½ a lemon, squeezed in at the end

1cm cube of fresh ginger

If blending:

Baby spinach is easier to blend.

Use not-from-concentrate apple juice from a carton (look out for cold-pressed versions appearing in shops now; they are unpasteurised and therefore the sugar content is not as high as pasteurised or concentrated versions), or try using coconut water instead.

Leave out the celery, unless you have a powerful blender.

Grate ginger finely, or use 1 teaspoon of ginger powder.

Add in half an avocado (or a small banana if you prefer it sweet) for a thicker, silken texture.

Chop all the ingredients to the appropriate size for your juicer (some juicers require more preparation than others), and feed through. Transfer the juice to a flask or jar (with a lid), squeeze in the lemon, add any Supercharge! ingredients, and shake well.